What is a PSIF (Potential Serious Injury or Fatality)?
A PSIF, or Potential Serious Injury or Fatality, refers to an incident or near miss that could have resulted in a serious life-altering injury or death —but didn’t, often due to timing or circumstance. Identifying these events is critical to preventing future harm.
How is a PSIF different from a SIF?
Term | Definition | Example |
SIF (Serious Injury or Fatality) | A verified incident that results in life-altering outcomes such as amputation, traumatic brain injury, or death. | A worker improperly connects a hose and is sprayed in the face with 250 °F sulfuric acid, resulting in severe burns and permanent loss of eyesight. |
PSIF (Potential Serious Injury or Fatality) | A near miss or low-impact incident that had the potential to result in serious harm. | The same hose ruptures and sprays the wall, but no one is present or the worker is fully protected by PPE and walks away with minor irritation. |
Both require attention, but PSIFs offer a unique opportunity to intervene before serious harm occurs.
Why does AI-PSIF detection matter?
Organizations often focus on incidents that result in actual injuries. But PSIFs highlight hidden risks, the types of events that may go unnoticed until they reoccur with worse outcomes.
Identifying PSIFs helps organizations:
- Prevent life-altering injuries or fatalities
- Improve near miss reporting and safety culture
- Prioritize resources where risk is highest
- Communicate clearly about high-potential incidents
- Build proactive, data-driven safety programs
What’s next?
The rest of this Help Center documentation will walk you through:
- How to enable and access the PSIF feature
- How to use Ask Velo to analyze descriptions
- How to review and manage PSIF evaluations
- What happens after a PSIF evaluation is accepted or rejected
